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Don't count out Ramon Foster

Rookie first-round pick David DeCastro has all but been anointed the Steelers’ starting right guard of not only the future but also the present.

Forgive Ramon Foster while he yawns.

If there is one thing Foster has grown accustomed to, it’s that he’s constantly being overlooked. But he has consistently proven the organization wrong.

“At this point, it is my nature to not let it bother me,” Foster said. “If something good happens for me, and I earn something, that’s OK with me. If a certain situation arises for me that is against me, I am going to fight for it. It’s my mentality.”

Foster was an undrafted rookie free agent who had little to no chance to make the team three years ago. He not only made the team, but he also played in 14 games, starting the final three.

The following year, Foster was in a training camp battle for a roster spot with third-round pick Kraig Urbik. Foster won and started the final 11 games, including Super Bowl XLV.

Still, there was plenty of doubt.

Foster found himself on the outside looking in during training camp last year while Doug Legursky, Chris Scott, Tony Hills and Trai Essex got shots to nail down a starting guard spot before him. Legursky was awarded the job before Foster was given a shot.

“You just have to keep fighting, and that’s what I did,” Foster said.

Foster replaced an injured Legursky during Week 3 and started the final 14 games at right guard, including the wild-card playoff loss to Denver.

Now, despite DeCastro being billed as the next great lineman in Steelers’ history, Foster ran with the first team at right guard throughout minicamp, not DeCastro.

“He has been fighting ever since he stepped foot in this locker room,” veteran lineman Willie Colon said. “I won’t count him out of being a starter at all. I think you would have to be a fool to count Ramon out of anything.”

But Foster knows the reality of the situation.

The Steelers didn’t use their first-round pick so a player can sit behind an undrafted player. Foster knows DeCastro will get the first crack of winning the starting right guard spot during training camp, but the 6-foot-6, 325-pounder has been through that before.

“I am just worried about what I do,” Foster said. “If I worried about what they are doing, then I mess myself up.”

Foster has 28 career starts, 23 at right guard over the past 26 games.

According to Pro Football Focus, Foster allowed three sacks, 16 hurries and one quarterback hit, making him the team’s second-most consistent offensive lineman behind Colon, who played only one game before being lost for the year with an injury.

“Ramon works extremely hard and is a real humble guy,” Colon said. “I have a lot of respect for him.”

The Steelers showed some loyalty to Foster when they offered him a restricted free agent tender of $1.26 million during the offseason. After getting some outside interest, Foster signed with the Steelers. He will become an unrestricted free agent next year.

“They definitely have some confidence in me,” Foster said. “It is one of those things when you get a first-rounder … we will see how it plays out, but I am not giving up, no way. It would have to be something catastrophic for me to just bow down and let him have it.”

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May 2008

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Obviously the front office doesn't share Kaboly's opinion because it took them about a millisecond to select DeCastro and all but name him the starting RG for the next decade. Foster will be good in the role he should have as game day back up for both Guard positions.

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Foster had his chance to solidify himself has a starter over the past couple of years and he hasn't. I just don't seem him beating out DeCastro so I would disagree w/ this article completely.

Let's just hope:

1) DeCastro stays healthy
2) DeCastro doesn't struggle w/ the mental side of the game which I could HIGHLY doubt considering he went to Stanford.
3) DeCastro has the strength to hold up against these NFL-type d-lineman.

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Everyone just relax.

Foster will be starting at LG.

Just as soon as good ol' Willie boy has himself his 3rd and final strike.
Don't get me wrong. I have nothin' against Colon. But if it looks like milk and tastes like milk, I'll betchya if you smell it, it will smell like milk.

I just don't understand the love affair with Colon.

He has been abscent all but one game in the past 2 years. Both years the team went 12-4. Foster has ONLY started 2/3 of those games. And he did it while the steelers were playing musical chairs. I mean, according to some statistics, he was our most consistent lineman last year.

And many Steeler fans don't have his back.
He may be one of the most underrated players on the team.

This guy has improved every year since he has arrived at Pittsburgh.

I just don't get why there are fans out there that want a 29 year old, "injury prone", 2-year absentee who is getting ready to play a new position while coming off of major surgery.

Or Foster.

I don't have nothing against Colon. And if he beats Foster out for the starting LG spot, I will back him 100%.

I just don't understand why he doesn't have a lot of fans.

'cause to me, he embodies everything Steelers fans like to get behind. You know- Undrafted college free agent. Stacked odds to make the team; not to mention play, or even start. Good character guy. Lunch pail work ethic.

I'm fine with being the only one who not only wants him to win the LG spot, but to keep it for the next 8 years. He, to me , can be(and should be) the final piece to this O-line youth movement. At 26, he would be the oldest on the line.
Not to mention the fact that the budget won't support a BIG$$$ O-line. There is great value in a player like Foster as well.

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Starting or not, the team needs guys like Foster, like Essex who can step in & play any position when needed - especially considering how this line seems to get nicked...a lot. Foster is a scrapper & gives everything he's got & sometimes (especially with O-Linemen) that trumps pedigree, let's see what happens. What I don't see is the continued over-valued Jon Scott sticking around...

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust & sweat & blood...

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Originally Posted by 8467thekraken

Everyone just relax.

Foster will be starting at LG.

Just as soon as good ol' Willie boy has himself his 3rd and final strike.
Don't get me wrong. I have nothin' against Colon. But if it looks like milk and tastes like milk, I'll betchya if you smell it, it will smell like milk.

I just don't understand the love affair with Colon.

He has been abscent all but one game in the past 2 years. Both years the team went 12-4. Foster has ONLY started 2/3 of those games. And he did it while the steelers were playing musical chairs. I mean, according to some statistics, he was our most consistent lineman last year.

And many Steeler fans don't have his back.
He may be one of the most underrated players on the team.

This guy has improved every year since he has arrived at Pittsburgh.

I just don't get why there are fans out there that want a 29 year old, "injury prone", 2-year absentee who is getting ready to play a new position while coming off of major surgery.

Or Foster.

I don't have nothing against Colon. And if he beats Foster out for the starting LG spot, I will back him 100%.

I just don't understand why he doesn't have a lot of fans.

'cause to me, he embodies everything Steelers fans like to get behind. You know- Undrafted college free agent. Stacked odds to make the team; not to mention play, or even start. Good character guy. Lunch pail work ethic.

I'm fine with being the only one who not only wants him to win the LG spot, but to keep it for the next 8 years. He, to me , can be(and should be) the final piece to this O-line youth movement. At 26, he would be the oldest on the line.
Not to mention the fact that the budget won't support a BIG$$$ O-line. There is great value in a player like Foster as well.

He makes sense from many angles.

...but then there is that whole he's-Bens-best-buddy thing...

And my Foster At LG Campaign begins.

The reason many don't have Foster's back is because we have seen all too often Foster getting zero push in short yardage situations and not being able to control the man opposite him. He is part of why we have been so bad in short yardage. He is an asset as a back up but if he was a front line OG the team wouldn't had been so quick and ready to put DeCastro in.

How many other OLs in the NFL do you think Foster is a starter on? They aren't good ones.